Australia to Pay Massive Premium for Uncharted 3 "Explorer Edition"

[surg3n]

I find it difficult to sympathise with Australians. Nothing against them, they have barbeque weather all year (mostly), better looking women, higher salaries, bigger houses and can speak fluent gibberish.

The chances are, if you don't live in a third world country, you'll pay more than Americans do for games, hardware, fuel, food, clothes... everything.

 

[Vaccine]

Good thing collectors editions are shit 90% of the time, I only often buy them for series I really really support and give you your moneys worth......this is not one of those.

 

[Canned Spam]

This isn't even the worst I've seen, EB Games once had ACB standard edition for $200. I have decided never to shop there again.

 

[Zhukov]

Uhh... who'd pay for that anyway? I mean, even going by the US price, it looks like complete junk.

 

[xhannay]

It's not a series I've played or am really interested in, but seriously, WTF!?

 

[standokan]

It's some nice loot for a real fan, with some mental errors. There will probably be more people winning this via a contest than buying it.

 

[AssassinFisH]

What is the reason for such a huge mark up? I feel sorry for you Aussies, that really sucks that you get such a hard time with games over there.

 

[joshuaayt]

And this is why i will never move to Australia!
No matter how much you try and make me, i will not grace you with my presence.

But sucks for them i guess.

Considering we get paid on average double more than someone in the US, it levels out in the end. In this case I wont be getting it as I haven't even got 1 or 2 nor do I have that much interest in the series.

Sadly most people dont realise that. Also I believe the minimum wage in Australia is actually closer to three times that of the US. They just see omg omg they pay higher prices even with the exchange rip off rip off.

Don't we have a higher cost of living, though? I don't have any tables in front of me, but I'm sure that we pay buckets more for most anything. And there's the tips, which we don't get, which explains the wage in certain jobs. Guess I could be wrong, though.

In any case, $100 extra is a little hard to swallow.

 

[Jake Martinez]

And this is why i will never move to Australia!
No matter how much you try and make me, i will not grace you with my presence.

But sucks for them i guess.

Considering we get paid on average double more than someone in the US, it levels out in the end. In this case I wont be getting it as I haven't even got 1 or 2 nor do I have that much interest in the series.

Sadly most people dont realise that. Also I believe the minimum wage in Australia is actually closer to three times that of the US. They just see omg omg they pay higher prices even with the exchange rip off rip off.

I'm sorry, but as an American that lives in Australia I can tell you this is pretty much bullshit flat out.

First of all, the Australian dollar is worth more than the American dollar. So there is no exchange rate to consider anymore.

Secondly, producing video games is not a heavy manufacturing process. It does not cost the publisher significantly more (and certainly not twice as much) to burn a copy of a game to a dvd for Australia as it does for the United Kingdom or America. In fact, it pretty much costs them next to nothing to distribute via the digital network like Steam, yet consistently we see prices for Australia that are higher than not only the US and UK, but also higher than New Zealand.

To put it bluntly, the prices are so high because of price gouging and bad distribution deals signed for the region. There is no justifable reason for the prices we are seeing because they are being marked up so high before they even get to brick and mortar retailers. It's just disgusting.

Also - it's things like this that turn people into pirates. It's one thing to pay a fair price for a game, it's another thing to see that other people, some of whoms money is worth less than yours pay less for the same product time and time again.

 

[Jake Martinez]

What is the reason for such a huge mark up?

Because they can.

Exactly. It's actually cheaper to buy games in New Zealand bar a fair shot most of the time because not only is the Australian dollar better, but the prices are generally the same or lower to boot. It's just flat out price gouging.

Also, in terms of the cost of living here... it's higher but it's not 100% higher. People labor under this false perception that since a person may make 7 or 8 bucks minimum wage in the States, but makes 16 to 18 here that the bottom line on goods increases at the same rate. That's just bollocks because just like America, Australia imports the vast majority of it's goods from China. In fact, Australian dollars buy more cheap Chinese shit these days than US dollars do.

The retailers do absorb the higher cost of labor, but it's easy for them to do so when the stuff they are importing gets marked up 10000% on the shelf. In my estimation as someone who lives in both places, I reckon Australians pay probably on average about 20% more for goods, but make significnatly more on the low end of the economic spectrum. It's a good country to live in if you are working class - you can actually live in a nice place and get free health care and a retirement fund.

Full disclosure: I earn (a fair dinkum) amount of money in Australia, so my experience being "Working class" is limited to about 8 months when I first moved here and couldn't work because of visa issues, but my wife's family certainly is and they've all done fairly well. But yes, I don't have much first hand experience with it other than vicariously through my wife's family.

 

[Jake Martinez]

Also - it's things like this that turn people into pirates. It's one thing to pay a fair price for a game, it's another thing to see that other people, some of whoms money is worth less than yours pay less for the same product time and time again.

How do you pirate a collectors edition? What, are you gonna download a figurine? Jailbreak a ring? Look for torrents of a belt buckle?

No, in this particular case people will just import from the UK. But there are games that people do pirate because of the price discrepency. It happens. A lot.

 

[Jake Martinez]

What are you talking about good sir. I was commenting on how everything in Australia is pretty much double that of the US video games included. Relative to your wage you are not paying any more for games then those who live in the US. Ya it sucks that its far cheaper to import games then to buy them locally but thats life.

So, someone's ability to pay should determine the price they are charged? How would you like it if the next time you went into Best Buy they asked to see your W2 so they could adjust your price up for every dollar you make over "x" amount a year?